June 12, 2026 • 37 mins
Funny bone, Adam's apple or spare ribs? We don't actually play the board game this week, but John and Jake break down a ton of injuries that have popped up in the fantasy sphere! The guys review the latest on Alec Pierce's ailments, Bo Nix and Patrick Mahomes timelines and tons of running backs to breakdown as well! Don't miss the latest as we steamroll through a busy offseason!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
source for the nation's best fantasy speculation and advice. Hearty
Hoe and Welcome back to another offseason edition of Fantasy
Football Weekly with your host, nurse John mcaza and medical
specialist MD fantasy doctor Jake Tropo. What we're talking about today,
(00:30):
We've talking some injuries.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Jake, how are you? Hopefully you're well?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I mean, I'm great. I don't know when I got
this medical degree that we're touting. It must have been
while I was sleeping, perhaps, but I'm happy to try
to fake my way through it for this No, John, John,
I feel like more I'm a little bit more like
weather specialists.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Man.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
We've been getting pummeled by storms here in Wisconsin for
like two months straight. I'm tired of it. I don't
know if I'm more tired of that though, or tired
of the storm of bad injury news that we've been
getting on NFL players, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I love the segue though. It's funny.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I thought I was going to be able to get
away from weather talk. You know, I do baseball work,
and this weather really affects games being played and how
the ball moves and everything, and I'm like crash coursing meteorology. Anyway,
our medical degrees come from the medical school of Upstair Hollywood, right,
the Upstairs Hollywood degree from doctor Dick Riviera High everybody,
(01:25):
all right, So that's.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Been most of the news. Of course, football season means.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Like hidden injuries, Drake, and they're coming in fast and furious.
I've always joked the best way to find the injuries
that we don't know about that we will know about
are on my roster ship page, and of course that's
been the case. Of course I've drafted guys we didn't
know we're hurt. First up would be mister Ali Pearce
wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
For the Colts.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
We talked about him, and right they move away from Pittman,
they gave Alec Pierce the bag, and I assumed, even
with questionable quarterback return from Daniel Jones, Pierce would be
the focal point of the passing offense well. Coach Shane Steichen,
when asked about Pierce's offseason surgery, he opened up the
possibility from not to be ready for the start of camp,
(02:09):
said it could be a quote unquote a couple weeks
in Pierce, this is just today said there was no
definitive timetable and when to be back. He was given
a four to six month recovery time after the March surgery.
March is the third month, six months is nine?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Uh oh?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Like I said, we could be talking about a couple
of weeks plus ramp up time, possibility of a setback.
I don't like to invite injuries. The Alex Pierce sharfs
that I have are probably it. Let's look at the
other wide receivers really quick. Josh Down's ADP. Ninety five,
Nick Westbrook a Keene adp. Two sixteen. Are there any values?
Are you off the colts? Do you like the incoming
(02:46):
Pierce discount?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Right? I think that's also on the way. What do
you think, Jack?
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yeah, I guess there will be a discount with Pierce,
although I just can't imagine even taking advantage of that
because the discount is not going to get him to
where I think his proper value is. I think he
was so overinflated based on the contract and I just
thought he should have come down anyways. This is going
to get him further down, but not far enough for me.
I do think the price tag for Josh Downs obviously
(03:11):
goes up a ton, So it's gonna be interesting to
see how far I'm in it right now based on
where he is, because I think he was undervalued. But
I'm actually more curious to see what happens with Tyler
Warren out of anybody on this team. Westbrook A. Kine
is interesting because he does play a similar downfield, explosive
play type of guy, although a very low grade version
(03:32):
of it compared to Alec Pearce. But I thought Michael
Pittman's departure would actually help Warren more than anybody else
on this team, and I think he's maybe being a
bit overlooked in all of this, even though he's being
drafted very high. I could see an argument for him
like tight end four kind of seemed too high at
one point. Now I feel like maybe it's not even
(03:53):
high enough.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
John Yeah, Warren I thought would thrive anyway. Any opening
is going to be a for him. I think he
really mentioned the key piece for me is Josh Downs.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Gosh.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I wish I knew if he was gonna play in
two wide receiver sets, and the thing that kills me
with some of these guys, maybe like a Jayden Reid also, Man,
why can't we get these guys into two wide out sets,
especially when there's an opening right that. I don't want
that to be a concern. I'm telling myself the story
that Downs is gonna be an every down player. Oh
(04:26):
see what he did there, at least to start the season.
I'm kind of staying away from a keen a, although
I think in reed draft, especially in kind of deeper formats,
there's probably been an opening for him. You mentioned the
archetypical fit there kind of downfield, and that's gonna be
open for Pierce. Even if Josh Downs is playing every down, Jake,
I doubt he's running go routes, right, That's not really
(04:48):
his thing. I don't think we want him doing that.
So yeah, I kind of stepped on the rake with Pierce,
and it wasn't really overpaying, but if I was heavy
running back up front, I did think he'd fit a role.
Now I'm gonna get off that. The next bit of
news was another guy who's drafting and I have the
receipts because we spoke about it. Was Chris Rodriguez over
in Jacksonville. Remember he spent five seasons at Kentucky and
(05:11):
his best season was with Leen Cohen, who was the
offensive coordinator at the time. Right, so there was I
don't know if it's a shower narrative, but something like that. Now,
according to team sources, the Jaguars Chris Rodriguez had a
procedure on his left foot ready in an injury early in
the off season program. He's expected to be ready for
the start of training camp in late July. I mean,
(05:32):
so the obvious question is where do you stand on
the Rodriguez and are you pushing up Basil.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Touton, who I felt was already.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Kind of expensive at thirty three maybe now right, if
you weren't worried about Rodriguez, that's where he should be
if he's moving up any more. Jake, I'm not going
any further that thirty three feels rich, maybe even fair,
but especially if Rodriguez returns and I still think he
could get the ends of work, that's a little bit
too expensive for me. Loo quent Out at EIGHTYB two sixteen,
(06:02):
what do you make of the Jaguars backfield situation.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I'm glad you brought up Bachel Tuton because is somebody
that I have been high on this offseason, even with
the addition of Chris Rodriguez, But it does feel like, boy,
he really took a balloon ride up in ADP, And yeah,
you make a good point. If he starts getting into
the I don't know beginning of the fifth round. Am
I comfortable doing that For Bachel Tuton, a guy that
(06:27):
I liked coming out of college but didn't exactly thrive
last year, I'd be scared of that. So yeah, I
don't think I'm gonna follow him up in ADP much.
With Chris Rodriguez, though, I always hate these ambiguous, undisclosed
injury types of things. I just have flashbacks to Joe
Mixon and his mysterious foot injury from last year, and
(06:48):
it was supposedly no big deal until it was, and
then it kept him out all season and it might
have ended his career. I'm not saying that's the exact
case with Rodriguez, mind you, but I am staying away
because I don't think he's worth the headaches. Like I
think he's a fairly low ceiling play, so I'm not
gonna go through all that unless the guy just has
(07:09):
massive upside, and I don't really see that with Rodriguez.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, I would agree.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Oh, let me do a quick correction. I was quoting
a minpick. The ADP is not far off as in
forty three. It wasn't thirty three, it's forty three. But
I've seen him go there now because people are immediately
overreacting to something, I think that initial price was already
discluding Rodriguez from.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
The party here.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
And yeah, I mean you make a great point being
weary of injuries, I very much am. I'm trying not
to invite them. I'm certainly not paying premiums for them.
It just was funny as I was getting into Twoton.
If I saw him in the fourth or even sometimes
early five, if I was early wide receivers, I'm thinking, Okay,
this is a guy who could explode a really good offense.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
But now, yeah, I don't know. We know he's gonna
move up.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
I have to decide if if I want any piece
of Rodriguez, is there anywhere that he could go chake again?
This is an offense we're expecting a lot from. But
there is Luquina Allen. I know I mentioned him twice.
I don't know who else is talking about him in June,
but he can be annoying. Sometimes it's that it's that
third thorn in the side, right or I guess the
second form. But either way, that extra, that third mouth
(08:22):
to feed can kind of kill everybody. Those are the
running back committees that I'm looking to.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Get off of.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I think my rostershipt for the Jaguars is gonna decline.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
You pretty much signing off on that.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah, John, it's like the band Poison said a long
time ago, every rose has three thorns. We know this.
They knew it to be true, We know it to
be true. I do think in the case of backfields
like this, where there is still a lot of ambiguity,
that's actually crazy. I didn't realize I misheard about Baseil Tuton.
I can't believe he's even going up higher than I thought.
(08:54):
So I'm all the way out on tooton now, which
is too bad. Lo quent to Ellen, Yeah, why not, right,
because there's so few running backs that have a legitimate
shot at this much of the pie going that late.
I think there's a couple of guys you could maybe
make an argument for around his area. But I'll take
some shots. Why not let me load up on wide
receivers towards the middle rounds and I'll scrape together some
(09:16):
more running backs than the late part.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, I guy like George Laani kind of comes to mind.
Also that look into Allen. Okay, we're talking very much endgame,
but if you're doing the best ball thing or the
roto thing right now, those guys are bodies, and they're
already kind of projectable.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Right.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
It's not a lot of projectible volume, but it's some
projectible volume. And I think everyone is so eager to
draft these sixth and seventh round running backs that very
often are zeros and like a like a hard zero,
like they didn't see the field. They don't actually make
the team sometimes, where a guy like lucn Awen is
(09:53):
already shown that he can earn work in that offense.
And I think, you know, say the Rodriguez thing really
goes poorly. You mentioned mixing, so it's not out of
the realm where it was an ankle injury to worry.
He's fine, it'll be back week one, don't worry, be
back out. Thea's all week three, Week five, week seven,
he may never play again. More like what's going on here?
It's crazy?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
How right? Oh?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
That escalated quickly, but de things happen. That's why I
tryed to invite any injuries if they're going on right now.
If Rodriguez does continue to drop, then I and he
comes back and please, then yeah, I might scoop him
at the end game.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
All right, Jake goes to.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
A little lightning round doctor play I was gonna play
doctor or whatever. I already made that joke, so again.
The one thing I don't want to do is pretend
to be a Yeah, I don't want to pretend him whoo.
You know, I don't want to come off like I
understand much, if anything, about medicine. But I have been
(10:50):
playing fantasy for a long time. We have a list
of players that would could and should have fantasy impact,
but they had season ending injuries. So each one is
going to be different than the other one. I have
found I feel comfortable ignoring, not say ignoring, but I
don't want any part of the late season injuries, right
(11:10):
if they happened late the recovery time. I worry about setbacks.
We've already had a couple of those. So I'm gonna
just kind of put that out there. First Off, Patrick Mahomes,
he's getting a ton of love in the industry streets
right now. You know, ADP ninety is pretty much the
cheapest you've ever been able to get him. But he
got hurt week fifteen, that's mid December to A and LCL.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I mean the reports.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
He's working out seven hours a day and he's ahead
of schedule. Not like he was running much. But the
running he did do was effective, meaning when Mahomes ran,
he made it to the marker, extended to drive, very efficient,
part of why his.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
EPA stuff is so great.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I'm off Mahomes. I think they've telegraphed they don't really
want him running. Plus, I'm worried, I think, as I
should be when they brought in ken Walker. So I
think I'm out Mahomes at the price is way too
many quarterbacks all going at the same time. He's going
right next to Jackson Dirt. I'd rather have Dirt, who's
running and for all intensive purposes is healthy.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
What do you think about.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Mahomes that's so interesting take. I think the exact opposite
approach on this player. I don't know that we've ever
been so divided on a player as Patrick Mahomes. We
should also mention very briefly, he just became the NFL's
first half a billion dollar player with that contract that
they gave him, so clearly they are comfortable with their investment.
(12:31):
And obviously we didn't expect this to be a long
term injury regardless. I remember Mahomes say that he's been
practicing with a brace on his left knee and something about,
you know, I wore a brace in college and it's
on the same knee and it's not too different. Obviously,
we want him to be unencumbered by the injury. For
what you said about his rushing ability, it's not like
he's Lamar Jackson and you're gonna get nine hundred rushing
(12:52):
yards out of him in a season. But even his
ability to scramble, extend plays, that sort of thing very
important for him. But you also said this is the
cheapest we've ever been able to get Patrick Mahomes, and
I feel like I've been saying this so much this offseason,
but I'm gonna keep saying it because Mahomes used to
be this locked in top five fantasy quarterback and then
(13:15):
his decline coincided perfectly with Eric Bienemy leaving as offensive
coordinator and Matt Naggy coming in. Matt Naggy will do
that to a quarterback. He will cause them to slide,
especially for fantasy purposes. But the enemy is back, and
maybe Mahomes isn't as hungry as he used to be
as a young buck out there now that he's got paid.
(13:36):
But I'm willing to be wrong and take him as
late as he's going, acknowledging that maybe I'll scoop up
a really late quarterback for those first couple weeks, so
I don't feel like I have to play Mahomes right away,
so we can kind of gauge it. But I'd rather
have him over Jackson Dart. Jackson Dart. The vibes are
bad with the Giants. He's injury I don't want to
(13:56):
say injury prone, but he's certainly inviting injuries than the
average quarterback does. So I think I'm going Mahomes.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, I mean, listen, I could buy all that because
I'm in the farious cheapskate and he's cheap, so I
get it. If Mahomes was going up near those top
two or three qbs, then I'd be a hard out.
I've just pivoted towards the more running quarterbacks. That's always
how I've built again, having best ball brain on right now,
my QB two or QB three. I want guys that
(14:25):
can run. In redraft, you may have me. I may
want Mahomes over a guy like Dart, who really feels
very erratic and for me kind of built for best ball,
where we want all the spike weeks. We don't want
any of the floor weeks. Best ball affords you that
luxury where in redraft you could see Mahomes just consistently
(14:46):
doing his thing. I'm looking last year. I don't even
realize how great he was. You know, from week was
it four through nine? He had five straight top five
QB weeks. So it's still in there. No one understands
a game better. I think I just worried that they
might be funneling it more through. But I'm not gonna
start taking shots at Patrick Mahomes again if he's cheap.
Next up, another quarterback. This is bow Knicks ADP. One
(15:06):
oh five. He got hurt even later. That happened right
unlike the second to last play or whatever that AFC
Divisional round game. He fractured his right angle ankle. He
had surgery with a follow up procedure in April. That's
the thing that kind of worries me. They're still saying
he's considered ahead of schedule and Week one looks likely.
I mean, you have to take him over starting quarterbacks
(15:31):
like Matthew Stafford is going right there, Jared Goff, even
Kyler Murray, Jordan Love, Tyler Shuck, all guys I'd probably
rather have than bow Knicks, who, again, we need him
to run. What is that going to be?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Like?
Speaker 1 (15:43):
We haven't seen him do much of anything yet. What
do you think about bow Knicks?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah, I think I get why he's going so much
later than Mahomes, because the injury happened later, and because
he needs his mobility much more than Patrick Mahomes to
be fantasy relevant. He's only played two years. In those years. Yeah,
he finished his QB seven, which is great back to
back years. That's amazing. He added Jalen Waddle to his arsenal.
That's all good stuff. But here's a fun fact, John,
(16:10):
I don't know if you know this. I didn't until today.
Bo Nix is one of only thirteen quarterbacks in NFL
history to throw the ball six hundred plus times in
a season without reaching four thousand passing yards. That's bad
rare air for a guy like him to be in
if he gets his mobility zapped away from him this year.
(16:30):
So yeah, I like Wattle helping him out, but it's
not gonna help him be a top ten QB if
he has to try to stand in the pocket or
if he's really encumbered. And I know Sean Payton said
he came out. There's not gonna be any hiccups. Once
training camp starts, you decide for yourself how much you
want to trust Shundon. I trust him about as far
(16:51):
as I can block him across the NFL field. And
you might not know this listeners, although you probably do
because my voice gives away. I'm a pretty slight guy.
So it's not gonna go far. So I'm out on
Bonix probably entirely, unless we get some crazy good, you know,
PR coverage coming up here in the next few months.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Trust him as far as you could push him off
the ball.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Right now, you are right about the QB price like
he is going much later than Mahomes. But it is
worth noting for anybody that maybe hasn't done fifty. Some
are drafts like I have. I have never seen such
consolidation for QB pricing. Josh Allen is an anomaly. He
(17:36):
goes way up top. Then you get Lamar and it's
been late for him. But Lamar in like the mid
to late fifties, and then come pick sixty five. It
just begins. I think I counted eighteen quarterbacks have a
ADP between sixty five and like one to oh five,
So in a forty pickspan, more than one out of
(17:59):
every three picks is a QB for like three or
four rounds in a row. So it just worth if
anybody is kind of doing some preseason work, maybe thinking
about doing basketball stuff, be ready. You have to really
choose between these guys. You really have to pick a pair, right,
You're picking a guy you like in the sixties and seventies,
then maybe one more that you like in that ninety
or one hundred range because the cover really empties out
(18:21):
very fast.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Worth noting. If you do get.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Caught waiting really late, you might want Daniel Jones our
next quarterback EDP one forty five. He also got hurt
in late in the season. That was December first week,
torn right achilles. Those can be really bad. We've also
seen that you know, sap running in power The next season,
he's doing seven on seven drills, which is encouraging, but
(18:45):
I'm not really sure I'm trusting anything I'm seeing from DJ.
Also worth noting the team's success was so directly correlated
to him. I didn't think I'd ever be saying that
about Daniel Jones.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
They were breaking all King differential records, all the EPA records, everything.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
They were a wagon. And then he goes away and Jonathan.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Taylor, who was arcing for like greatest fantasy season ever,
like the smash pick you needed all of a sudden,
was costing people playoff matchups. So what do you think
about Daniel Jones? And then, more specifically, because he's going
late enough that we can make a cost argument, how
do you think it impacts the rest of the Colts.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
That's what I'm really thinking about.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah, I mean, we can't blame the Colts too much
when their reserve option was a guy who'd been coaching
high school football for like the last four seasons. Philip
Rivers comes off off the bench, off the bench, and
I was crazy from the distant pass to come and
try to save the season. So I'm not gonna really
hold it against any of the pass catchers on this
team if they have to go out there without Daniel Jones.
(19:51):
Riley Leonard for all intents and purposes, I still think
is a decent backup option if they decide to ride
with him. We don't know if it will be him
or whatever Gardener Minshew, but I do think Daniel Jones
is gonna be a tough sell. We don't know how
quarterbacks are really affected by ACL stuff that are of
his caliber, because the last few ones it's like Aaron
(20:12):
Rodgers towards ACL. But he was on a new team
and on the verge of ten thousand years old. We
don't know that his exact follow up season is going
to translate to a guy like Daniel Jones. Necessarily. This
is where our lack of doctoring really shows. Probably, But
I do think Daniel Jones, if he's even not mobile,
he's a good enough passer, as he showed last year that,
(20:36):
like we were just talking about Josh Downs, I think
he's still gonna be fine, Tyler Warren, He's still gonna
be fine. So I'm not actually impacting the rest of
the cast because of this injury. It's just a matter
of do I even want to dare try Daniel Jones
with the last pick of my draft, you know, because
you can decide between him and a guy like Geno Smith.
Basically at this point, I'd rather at least take the
(20:56):
upshot of Daniel Jones.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I think that last point is a good one. I'm
also glad you mentioned the downs and warrant thing. They
are two players. I don't want to see that QB proof,
but those style of player can overcome quarterback quality because
a lot of it is getting open near the line
of scrimmage and canting kind of lay up targets, high
probability targets. I think they're both really skilled and have
(21:20):
that ability to do so. If and when Daniel Jones
comes back, I think you're getting an immediate I don't know,
a wide receiver two in downs and definitely a tight
end one. I think you're getting a tight end one
regardless of Warren. I think you're getting a high end
tight end one with Jones back. So worth it with
those guys, I think to you know, still be buying
in even with question marks. As far as Jones himself, again,
(21:42):
it's laid enough if it fits the build. I think
you do it, Jake. Of course we ran on longer
than I wanted to. I don't know if we're going
to make it. Everybody, let me shuffle some papers, let's
take it. Let me take a quick breath. I want
to get into some running backs. And if this takes
too long, because I want to give everything the attention
that deserves, maybe we'll just break this episode into two
and do the pass catchers next time around. With whatever
news and no so ho going. We need to take
a quick broth. I got right back to you, all right, Jakes,
(22:05):
thank you so much for that. I know I didn't
have enough time to do any medical studying, but we
can't talk about some running backs, right. The lack of
medical training is really kind of showing through today.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
So let's do the.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Running backs again. I want to give the attention here
because this stuff matters, right, Chaos is a ladder, and
these opportunities and these players are going to be impactful
one way or another. Right, either they hit the ground
running they're really good. We wanted them, or in a
case like cam Scatabo, let's say this goes wrong. You're
paying a top forty five overall pick and it could
really hurt you, right, so impact kind of goes both ways.
(22:40):
Scatabo was hurt in week eight, so this is quite
a bit earlier than some of the other ones. That
two months can make a big difference. That was verse Philly.
He disslocated his ankle. It was a compound fracture, a
deltoid ligament tear, not that I know what that is now.
He had emergency surgery, which is like both good and bad, right,
we want these procedures immediately. The worst thing I think
(23:00):
is when teams and players try and heal things with
rest only to find out, oh, that didn't work.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Surgery is a good thing.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
He showed up to all voluntary workouts. He has a
chance at week one. They're saying unlikely to be one
hundred percent. We know Scatabo, and this is the guy
you want in fantasy catches the ball, all the end
zone work, and best friends with the quarterback. The two
of them together are like a you know, line share
of all the yard of and all the fantasy points.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
What do you think about Scatabo.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
He's a guy I had been drafting with my best
ball brain because I think we saw Tyrone Tracy get
you know the full workload, so I think those two
guys are fairly priced as a tandem. Talk to me
about the giants, scatabo you think about Big.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Blue, Well, John, I actually did take my MCATs over
the break, so I've come back with much more knowledge
now and I'm ready to break this down. Yes, and
here's what I've discovered with Cam Scataboo. His injury was
gross and gnarly. It was one of the worst injury
that we've seen in the last couple of years. I mean,
(24:04):
I appreciate that they want to get him as involved
as possible. I appreciate that he wants to be as
involved as possible, but the dude still runs like the freakin'
Juggernaut from X Men first, and I can't imagine he's
necessarily putting his health as priority number one. Uh So
I'm still he's doing backflips, and of course he's doing backflips,
(24:26):
and they joked.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
They were like, okay, Harball was like, all right, let's
let's it's good to see the mobility, but let's cut
back on the gymnastics. Sorry to cut you off, but
you mentioned it could I couldn't believe it when I
saw that.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
If he backflips his way into another injury, I unfortunately
wouldn't all be that surprised by it, which is the
thing that scares me about drafting a guy like Cam'scattaboo
is he's going so high, and yes, the expectation can
be he's going to be seventy percent of the backfield
or maybe even he's going to be fifty percent of
the team production at this point if Malik Neighbors has
(24:57):
worse issues, which we'll discuss later, but I I'm still
just the only Giant that I'm really comfortable drafting right
now truly is Isaiah Likely and Tyrone Tracy, as you
mentioned very late, because the possibility of injuries so high.
With Skataboo, he's also one of those pieces obviously, along
with Jackson Dart who has his own injury concerns, and
Milig Neighbors, who has his own injury concerns, they feel
(25:19):
like a team one injury away from looking like the
you know, fricking Miami Dolphins this year. So I'm pretty nervous.
I'm taking Isaiah Likely and I'm just staying away pretty
much from the rest of his crew.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Yeah, I would definitely say not overloading on giants is
a good idea, though, I have to be honest.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Transparency is kind of my thing.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
I have lots of giants spread out, right, so I
have some Scatabo and Tracy tandems. But I'm trying not
to do that with Dart and Likely. I'm with you, Unlikely.
Those are teams that I like to have Jackson Dart
when I have a running quarterback, especially when I could
get a little bit later, I like to pay them
with the tight ends. I was talking about Ulsage and
(26:02):
Malik Willis also. I think that's a cool kind of
late pairing. That's like a team move version of the Giants,
which maybe says something about either of them.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I'm not quite sure, but it's not good whatever it says.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
See, I think Scatibo is a bit of a risk.
I think you should be worried. I think I like
him more in redraft right, if he's healthy. You want
that week one stuff. We're all gonna be dealing with
injuries and figuring out waiver stuff as we go. I
want the guy that could get me off to a
great start. I mean, the type of usage he was
getting is hard to find, especially that part of the
(26:34):
draft board, though there is another player and he's going
around later. He's the next on our injury board here.
It's Quinn Shawn Jenkins for Cleveland, who really impressed me
given the late start and lack of preparation last year.
He got hurt in late December Week sixteen versus Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
It was nasty.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Also dislocated right ankle and a fractured fibula. I couldn't believe.
I was watching videos of him right now. He looks awesome.
They're over the moon for him and his prospects. What's
the problem. One team's live players, lie Jake, but also
it's the ecosystem of the Browns.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
This is ADP fifty.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Five, which, if you think you're getting one hundred percent Judkins,
I think is good. My worry is how good are
they gonna be? And his pass game work has been
threatened by Samson, So given the late time of the
injury with Judkins, and I think, like I mentioned, bad environment,
with the threat of the backup losing some passwork, I
(27:31):
think I'm out on Judkins.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
I think I'm letting other people go that way. What
do you think?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Yeah, if literally everything goes perfectly for him, then I'm
comfortable at his ADP, but I'm still not even necessarily
over the moon at his ADP. So yeah, that to
me just says back off. And I know that. Yeah,
it's it's team lying offseason, it's coach speaks season. They're
gonna say he's confident and explosive and ahead of a schedule,
(27:56):
because what are you supposed to say about your star
running back? And I know that supposedly his injury was
higher up on the ankle, so it was like a
best case scenario for him. I think best case scenario
is that he actually turns into a pass catching running back,
which I don't think is on the table because you
mentioned Dylan Sampson still there. And best case scenario would
(28:17):
be he's in an offense that has a lot of
scoring potential, which I just don't see with this year's
version of the Brown. So if he's one hundred percent
good to go and there's no setbacks, fine, But like you,
I will probably just bypass that position around where he's
being drafted and pivot to something else.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
So Jokins is going right next to Daring Price, who
I'm over the moon for, and I will not be
fielding any you know, one v one questions on him,
because to me, that's already a given. What the answer is,
I do have another injured player. He's not on our
list because he didn't finish the year injured.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Where are you? How about Bucky Irvin.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
This is a decision lots of people have to make,
and the answer could be neither. That's my answer, not
to bury with the lead Bucky Irvin v. Quinchin Pupkins
at the same ADP.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Jake, Yeah, I wonder if we're overreacting a bit too
much to Bucky Irving.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Now.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
I've been worried about Bucky Irving and so I understand
and understood his initial decline in ADP. I just wonder
that we're over correcting now because if he's going this
far down and we know that he is a good
pass catcher, obviously Kenny Gainwell is there, and we've talked
a lot about Kenny Gainwell being somebody to target later
in drafts because he's an improvement I think over a
(29:27):
shod white. But if Bucky does look like he did
a year and a half ago, I think we're gonna
feel a little foolish. So based on upside, I would
much rather have Bucky Irving than Quinn Shod Judkins. I
don't know that I'm gonna trip over myself to click
draft on him, but if he keeps slipping down even
a little bit more, I might have to.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
I was really big at the Bucky the first year.
That was a hit king back for the Encore. That
didn't work out. The injury kind of lingered. I ended
up getting stung, And now this year the points they
make are very good. Hard not to worry about gainwell
and then Talker is back there. But I would agree
a one hundred percent Bucky Irving wins that the job.
(30:10):
I don't know one's getting one hundred percent of carries right.
Those days are over, but yeah, I think he could
still be great with a price that's moving down. Right,
That's when my antenna starts to pop. So it'll be
interesting to see. But I think we're in agreement. Neither
of us are going to end up with a lot
of Judkins at cost too many red flags, or we
got two more running backs. I want to get through
them both. And again we'll give the pass catchers their
due next week because this is really good stuff, where
(30:33):
you know, talking about a lot of process stuff, pulling
the curtain on what we think about these players and
then all the subsequent stuff. Next up is Jonathan Brooks,
who I've been lucky enough to completely avoid because I'm
kind of a curmudgeon when it comes to injuries. The
second I hear guys injured right now, I'm not interested.
Brooks is not injured right now now. He did retear
(30:53):
a right ACL in December, but it was of twenty four, right,
so we haven't seen him. He's had the time. They
are just gushing over him right now. I mean not
only are they gushing over him right now, they've telegraphed
it with the roster move right allowing ric o'dowdell, who
was gosh, Barry Sanders. You know, when Walter Peton rolled
(31:17):
into one for like a three week stretch last year,
they moved on from him with with Truba Hubbard. He's
still there. But the way they're talking about Brooks is
man he could maybe be a one A and again,
pricing is really tough. He's at pick one oh eight.
He's very polarizing player. I feel like people are either
way on it, in on him, or all the way out.
(31:39):
Where do you stand on Jonathan Brooks for the Panthers.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Jonathan with two o's Brooks is that how Jonathan is
always spelled by the way I thought there was it
was a thha N, not thh o N. And I
can't stop looking at it.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
It's like, you know, I didn't notice that till just now,
And I'm like, I was gonna say, I think you
have a typo.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
It's j O N. I thought that's where you were
placing the second. Oh you don't, No, no, no, no, no,
you're right. I've never seen that.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Now I'll never draft him. I can't even understand the
concept of how his name spelled. I can't believe in
him for my fantasy team. No, I do think that
there's obvious risk. He's a running back coming off of
consecutive torn acls, and remember how long it took for
Javonte Williams to get back to his old self after
just one ACL tear. But the better news for Brooks
(32:34):
is that he's so young. He's still only twenty two
years old, so maybe his recovery timeline looks a lot
faster than a guy that's even three years You know
that seat.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Well, he's had ample time at this point.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Now, yeah, he's he's had tons of time, and if
he's not out there sort of beleaguering the injury further,
like he's not being asked to run through the injury
in games, which could probably be a set pack for
a lot of guys. Then the freshness probably does account
for something, John, and I will say, Rico Daldo you
mentioned he outpaced Toba Hubbard last year. Granted part of
(33:10):
that was because of Hubbard's own calf injury that flared up,
but the team showed confidence in Brooks. You don't let
Rico Daudo walk because it's not like he was gonna
have to get a massive payday. You could afford to
keep both chubbered chubbered Hubbard.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
And that's a good one. I actually like that we should.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Just cut through it and call him chubbered from here
on out. I think save space, save you know, vowels.
In any case, I think that Brooks has the vote
of confidence. And at this range, who has this kind
of upside around where he's being drafted. Not a ton
of guys, So I get the appeal.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Yeah, that's the name of the game. In the triple
digit picks, Remember most of these guys are going to
get dropped or hurt before the first month of play's over.
So if you have a chance at player to check
the box is to be the big breakout. I think
Brooks is that I don't know if it's gonna happen.
I don't even know if I'm making a week one,
but that is the type of play that could hit,
(34:09):
so I depending on my build.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
That's where I've been. Let's do this last player really quick.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
It's Zach Charbonnay on the Seahawks ADP one sixty five.
I believe he's gonna start moving up now. He tore
on ACL in January in the wild card game. That's
part of why I've been so high on Price. I
normally give twelve months for recovery. Is kind of what
we were mentioning why I'm into the early injuries. I
(34:35):
want the twelve month recovery time to land in the
off season so there's no pressure to return to early.
I always feel like everybody, the player, the staff, the coaches,
everybody has a vested interest in getting these guys on
the field. They don't know better, you know. They they
want to win, they want to play, and I worry.
So when I see the timeline, that's what I'm into.
(34:56):
This is the opposite. This feels totally rushed. I don't
know how we could get this guy back. He had
surgery in late February. Nine month recovery usually minimum that's October,
November or and now they're like they're trying to talk about
having him available early. There was a mention of week
one today. Yeah, right, not gonna happen. So I'm hoping
that people run with that week one narrative and it
(35:19):
hopefully will knock price down around where I'll be there
to scoop him up on one hundred percent of teams.
It's not that I don't like sharbon Ay. I just
think this is putting the cart before the horse way.
Too many things can go wrong, and you risk the
reaggravation if you rush back too fast. So I'm out
on Sharves even at pick one sixty five.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
I'd rather have Halani one v one right now. Where
are you on, Charboney? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (35:43):
I mean I mentioned Devonte Williams and his like two
year process to looking as good or close to as
good as he did initially. CHARBERTA doesn't have even like
you said a full year to get back to his
old self, and let me remind you his old self
was not anything fantas astic for your fantasy teams. A
healthy Charbone never finished higher than RB twenty nine in
(36:05):
PPR points per game. Yeah, they let Kenneth Walker go
in free agency, but they spent the first round pick
on Jendarian Price. So unless Price just completely winds up
an unexpected bust, they're not gonna give Charbonet the workload
that you want to be this invested in a guy.
So yeah, give me Price, give me Halani, give me
(36:26):
Emmanuel Wilson if you want to just take a contrarian
shot later on in your drafts. But there's no chance
that I'm doing anything with Charbonet.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Well, an Emmanuel Wilson mentioned means it's time to get
out of here, mister Jake.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
You know what. I'm glad that we took the time. Though.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
We will sever the back end of the outline and
we'll go back to it next week with pass catches
and whatever news and olds come up. Thanks so much
everybody for hanging along with us. Enjoy your weekend. Thanks
for listening to Fantasy Football Weekly and we'll see you soon.
I know no, you know no.
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
source for the nation's best fantasy speculation and advice. Hearty
Hoe and Welcome back to another offseason edition of Fantasy
Football Weekly with your host, nurse John mcaza and medical
specialist MD fantasy doctor Jake Tropo. What we're talking about today,
(00:30):
We've talking some injuries.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Jake, how are you? Hopefully you're well?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I mean, I'm great. I don't know when I got
this medical degree that we're touting. It must have been
while I was sleeping, perhaps, but I'm happy to try
to fake my way through it for this No, John, John,
I feel like more I'm a little bit more like
weather specialists.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Man.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
We've been getting pummeled by storms here in Wisconsin for
like two months straight. I'm tired of it. I don't
know if I'm more tired of that though, or tired
of the storm of bad injury news that we've been
getting on NFL players, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I love the segue though. It's funny.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I thought I was going to be able to get
away from weather talk. You know, I do baseball work,
and this weather really affects games being played and how
the ball moves and everything, and I'm like crash coursing meteorology. Anyway,
our medical degrees come from the medical school of Upstair Hollywood, right,
the Upstairs Hollywood degree from doctor Dick Riviera High everybody,
(01:25):
all right, So that's.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Been most of the news. Of course, football season means.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Like hidden injuries, Drake, and they're coming in fast and furious.
I've always joked the best way to find the injuries
that we don't know about that we will know about
are on my roster ship page, and of course that's
been the case. Of course I've drafted guys we didn't
know we're hurt. First up would be mister Ali Pearce
wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
For the Colts.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
We talked about him, and right they move away from Pittman,
they gave Alec Pierce the bag, and I assumed, even
with questionable quarterback return from Daniel Jones, Pierce would be
the focal point of the passing offense well. Coach Shane Steichen,
when asked about Pierce's offseason surgery, he opened up the
possibility from not to be ready for the start of camp,
(02:09):
said it could be a quote unquote a couple weeks
in Pierce, this is just today said there was no
definitive timetable and when to be back. He was given
a four to six month recovery time after the March surgery.
March is the third month, six months is nine?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Uh oh?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Like I said, we could be talking about a couple
of weeks plus ramp up time, possibility of a setback.
I don't like to invite injuries. The Alex Pierce sharfs
that I have are probably it. Let's look at the
other wide receivers really quick. Josh Down's ADP. Ninety five,
Nick Westbrook a Keene adp. Two sixteen. Are there any values?
Are you off the colts? Do you like the incoming
(02:46):
Pierce discount?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Right? I think that's also on the way. What do
you think, Jack?
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yeah, I guess there will be a discount with Pierce,
although I just can't imagine even taking advantage of that
because the discount is not going to get him to
where I think his proper value is. I think he
was so overinflated based on the contract and I just
thought he should have come down anyways. This is going
to get him further down, but not far enough for me.
I do think the price tag for Josh Downs obviously
(03:11):
goes up a ton, So it's gonna be interesting to
see how far I'm in it right now based on
where he is, because I think he was undervalued. But
I'm actually more curious to see what happens with Tyler
Warren out of anybody on this team. Westbrook A. Kine
is interesting because he does play a similar downfield, explosive
play type of guy, although a very low grade version
(03:32):
of it compared to Alec Pearce. But I thought Michael
Pittman's departure would actually help Warren more than anybody else
on this team, and I think he's maybe being a
bit overlooked in all of this, even though he's being
drafted very high. I could see an argument for him
like tight end four kind of seemed too high at
one point. Now I feel like maybe it's not even
(03:53):
high enough.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
John Yeah, Warren I thought would thrive anyway. Any opening
is going to be a for him. I think he
really mentioned the key piece for me is Josh Downs.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Gosh.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I wish I knew if he was gonna play in
two wide receiver sets, and the thing that kills me
with some of these guys, maybe like a Jayden Reid also, Man,
why can't we get these guys into two wide out sets,
especially when there's an opening right that. I don't want
that to be a concern. I'm telling myself the story
that Downs is gonna be an every down player. Oh
(04:26):
see what he did there, at least to start the season.
I'm kind of staying away from a keen a, although
I think in reed draft, especially in kind of deeper formats,
there's probably been an opening for him. You mentioned the
archetypical fit there kind of downfield, and that's gonna be
open for Pierce. Even if Josh Downs is playing every down, Jake,
I doubt he's running go routes, right, That's not really
(04:48):
his thing. I don't think we want him doing that.
So yeah, I kind of stepped on the rake with Pierce,
and it wasn't really overpaying, but if I was heavy
running back up front, I did think he'd fit a role.
Now I'm gonna get off that. The next bit of
news was another guy who's drafting and I have the
receipts because we spoke about it. Was Chris Rodriguez over
in Jacksonville. Remember he spent five seasons at Kentucky and
(05:11):
his best season was with Leen Cohen, who was the
offensive coordinator at the time. Right, so there was I
don't know if it's a shower narrative, but something like that. Now,
according to team sources, the Jaguars Chris Rodriguez had a
procedure on his left foot ready in an injury early in
the off season program. He's expected to be ready for
the start of training camp in late July. I mean,
(05:32):
so the obvious question is where do you stand on
the Rodriguez and are you pushing up Basil.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Touton, who I felt was already.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Kind of expensive at thirty three maybe now right, if
you weren't worried about Rodriguez, that's where he should be
if he's moving up any more. Jake, I'm not going
any further that thirty three feels rich, maybe even fair,
but especially if Rodriguez returns and I still think he
could get the ends of work, that's a little bit
too expensive for me. Loo quent Out at EIGHTYB two sixteen,
(06:02):
what do you make of the Jaguars backfield situation.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I'm glad you brought up Bachel Tuton because is somebody
that I have been high on this offseason, even with
the addition of Chris Rodriguez, But it does feel like, boy,
he really took a balloon ride up in ADP, And yeah,
you make a good point. If he starts getting into
the I don't know beginning of the fifth round. Am
I comfortable doing that For Bachel Tuton, a guy that
(06:27):
I liked coming out of college but didn't exactly thrive
last year, I'd be scared of that. So yeah, I
don't think I'm gonna follow him up in ADP much.
With Chris Rodriguez, though, I always hate these ambiguous, undisclosed
injury types of things. I just have flashbacks to Joe
Mixon and his mysterious foot injury from last year, and
(06:48):
it was supposedly no big deal until it was, and
then it kept him out all season and it might
have ended his career. I'm not saying that's the exact
case with Rodriguez, mind you, but I am staying away
because I don't think he's worth the headaches. Like I
think he's a fairly low ceiling play, so I'm not
gonna go through all that unless the guy just has
(07:09):
massive upside, and I don't really see that with Rodriguez.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, I would agree.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Oh, let me do a quick correction. I was quoting
a minpick. The ADP is not far off as in
forty three. It wasn't thirty three, it's forty three. But
I've seen him go there now because people are immediately
overreacting to something, I think that initial price was already
discluding Rodriguez from.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
The party here.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
And yeah, I mean you make a great point being
weary of injuries, I very much am. I'm trying not
to invite them. I'm certainly not paying premiums for them.
It just was funny as I was getting into Twoton.
If I saw him in the fourth or even sometimes
early five, if I was early wide receivers, I'm thinking, Okay,
this is a guy who could explode a really good offense.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
But now, yeah, I don't know. We know he's gonna
move up.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
I have to decide if if I want any piece
of Rodriguez, is there anywhere that he could go chake again?
This is an offense we're expecting a lot from. But
there is Luquina Allen. I know I mentioned him twice.
I don't know who else is talking about him in June,
but he can be annoying. Sometimes it's that it's that
third thorn in the side, right or I guess the
second form. But either way, that extra, that third mouth
(08:22):
to feed can kind of kill everybody. Those are the
running back committees that I'm looking to.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Get off of.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I think my rostershipt for the Jaguars is gonna decline.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
You pretty much signing off on that.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah, John, it's like the band Poison said a long
time ago, every rose has three thorns. We know this.
They knew it to be true, We know it to
be true. I do think in the case of backfields
like this, where there is still a lot of ambiguity,
that's actually crazy. I didn't realize I misheard about Baseil Tuton.
I can't believe he's even going up higher than I thought.
(08:54):
So I'm all the way out on tooton now, which
is too bad. Lo quent to Ellen, Yeah, why not, right,
because there's so few running backs that have a legitimate
shot at this much of the pie going that late.
I think there's a couple of guys you could maybe
make an argument for around his area. But I'll take
some shots. Why not let me load up on wide
receivers towards the middle rounds and I'll scrape together some
(09:16):
more running backs than the late part.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, I guy like George Laani kind of comes to mind.
Also that look into Allen. Okay, we're talking very much endgame,
but if you're doing the best ball thing or the
roto thing right now, those guys are bodies, and they're
already kind of projectable.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Right.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
It's not a lot of projectible volume, but it's some
projectible volume. And I think everyone is so eager to
draft these sixth and seventh round running backs that very
often are zeros and like a like a hard zero,
like they didn't see the field. They don't actually make
the team sometimes, where a guy like lucn Awen is
(09:53):
already shown that he can earn work in that offense.
And I think, you know, say the Rodriguez thing really
goes poorly. You mentioned mixing, so it's not out of
the realm where it was an ankle injury to worry.
He's fine, it'll be back week one, don't worry, be
back out. Thea's all week three, Week five, week seven,
he may never play again. More like what's going on here?
It's crazy?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
How right? Oh?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
That escalated quickly, but de things happen. That's why I
tryed to invite any injuries if they're going on right now.
If Rodriguez does continue to drop, then I and he
comes back and please, then yeah, I might scoop him
at the end game.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
All right, Jake goes to.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
A little lightning round doctor play I was gonna play
doctor or whatever. I already made that joke, so again.
The one thing I don't want to do is pretend
to be a Yeah, I don't want to pretend him whoo.
You know, I don't want to come off like I
understand much, if anything, about medicine. But I have been
(10:50):
playing fantasy for a long time. We have a list
of players that would could and should have fantasy impact,
but they had season ending injuries. So each one is
going to be different than the other one. I have
found I feel comfortable ignoring, not say ignoring, but I
don't want any part of the late season injuries, right
(11:10):
if they happened late the recovery time. I worry about setbacks.
We've already had a couple of those. So I'm gonna
just kind of put that out there. First Off, Patrick Mahomes,
he's getting a ton of love in the industry streets
right now. You know, ADP ninety is pretty much the
cheapest you've ever been able to get him. But he
got hurt week fifteen, that's mid December to A and LCL.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I mean the reports.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
He's working out seven hours a day and he's ahead
of schedule. Not like he was running much. But the
running he did do was effective, meaning when Mahomes ran,
he made it to the marker, extended to drive, very efficient,
part of why his.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
EPA stuff is so great.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I'm off Mahomes. I think they've telegraphed they don't really
want him running. Plus, I'm worried, I think, as I
should be when they brought in ken Walker. So I
think I'm out Mahomes at the price is way too
many quarterbacks all going at the same time. He's going
right next to Jackson Dirt. I'd rather have Dirt, who's
running and for all intensive purposes is healthy.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
What do you think about.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Mahomes that's so interesting take. I think the exact opposite
approach on this player. I don't know that we've ever
been so divided on a player as Patrick Mahomes. We
should also mention very briefly, he just became the NFL's
first half a billion dollar player with that contract that
they gave him, so clearly they are comfortable with their investment.
(12:31):
And obviously we didn't expect this to be a long
term injury regardless. I remember Mahomes say that he's been
practicing with a brace on his left knee and something about,
you know, I wore a brace in college and it's
on the same knee and it's not too different. Obviously,
we want him to be unencumbered by the injury. For
what you said about his rushing ability, it's not like
he's Lamar Jackson and you're gonna get nine hundred rushing
(12:52):
yards out of him in a season. But even his
ability to scramble, extend plays, that sort of thing very
important for him. But you also said this is the
cheapest we've ever been able to get Patrick Mahomes, and
I feel like I've been saying this so much this offseason,
but I'm gonna keep saying it because Mahomes used to
be this locked in top five fantasy quarterback and then
(13:15):
his decline coincided perfectly with Eric Bienemy leaving as offensive
coordinator and Matt Naggy coming in. Matt Naggy will do
that to a quarterback. He will cause them to slide,
especially for fantasy purposes. But the enemy is back, and
maybe Mahomes isn't as hungry as he used to be
as a young buck out there now that he's got paid.
(13:36):
But I'm willing to be wrong and take him as
late as he's going, acknowledging that maybe I'll scoop up
a really late quarterback for those first couple weeks, so
I don't feel like I have to play Mahomes right away,
so we can kind of gauge it. But I'd rather
have him over Jackson Dart. Jackson Dart. The vibes are
bad with the Giants. He's injury I don't want to
(13:56):
say injury prone, but he's certainly inviting injuries than the
average quarterback does. So I think I'm going Mahomes.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, I mean, listen, I could buy all that because
I'm in the farious cheapskate and he's cheap, so I
get it. If Mahomes was going up near those top
two or three qbs, then I'd be a hard out.
I've just pivoted towards the more running quarterbacks. That's always
how I've built again, having best ball brain on right now,
my QB two or QB three. I want guys that
(14:25):
can run. In redraft, you may have me. I may
want Mahomes over a guy like Dart, who really feels
very erratic and for me kind of built for best ball,
where we want all the spike weeks. We don't want
any of the floor weeks. Best ball affords you that
luxury where in redraft you could see Mahomes just consistently
(14:46):
doing his thing. I'm looking last year. I don't even
realize how great he was. You know, from week was
it four through nine? He had five straight top five
QB weeks. So it's still in there. No one understands
a game better. I think I just worried that they
might be funneling it more through. But I'm not gonna
start taking shots at Patrick Mahomes again if he's cheap.
Next up, another quarterback. This is bow Knicks ADP. One
(15:06):
oh five. He got hurt even later. That happened right
unlike the second to last play or whatever that AFC
Divisional round game. He fractured his right angle ankle. He
had surgery with a follow up procedure in April. That's
the thing that kind of worries me. They're still saying
he's considered ahead of schedule and Week one looks likely.
I mean, you have to take him over starting quarterbacks
(15:31):
like Matthew Stafford is going right there, Jared Goff, even
Kyler Murray, Jordan Love, Tyler Shuck, all guys I'd probably
rather have than bow Knicks, who, again, we need him
to run. What is that going to be?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Like?
Speaker 1 (15:43):
We haven't seen him do much of anything yet. What
do you think about bow Knicks?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah, I think I get why he's going so much
later than Mahomes, because the injury happened later, and because
he needs his mobility much more than Patrick Mahomes to
be fantasy relevant. He's only played two years. In those years. Yeah,
he finished his QB seven, which is great back to
back years. That's amazing. He added Jalen Waddle to his arsenal.
That's all good stuff. But here's a fun fact, John,
(16:10):
I don't know if you know this. I didn't until today.
Bo Nix is one of only thirteen quarterbacks in NFL
history to throw the ball six hundred plus times in
a season without reaching four thousand passing yards. That's bad
rare air for a guy like him to be in
if he gets his mobility zapped away from him this year.
(16:30):
So yeah, I like Wattle helping him out, but it's
not gonna help him be a top ten QB if
he has to try to stand in the pocket or
if he's really encumbered. And I know Sean Payton said
he came out. There's not gonna be any hiccups. Once
training camp starts, you decide for yourself how much you
want to trust Shundon. I trust him about as far
(16:51):
as I can block him across the NFL field. And
you might not know this listeners, although you probably do
because my voice gives away. I'm a pretty slight guy.
So it's not gonna go far. So I'm out on
Bonix probably entirely, unless we get some crazy good, you know,
PR coverage coming up here in the next few months.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Trust him as far as you could push him off
the ball.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Right now, you are right about the QB price like
he is going much later than Mahomes. But it is
worth noting for anybody that maybe hasn't done fifty. Some
are drafts like I have. I have never seen such
consolidation for QB pricing. Josh Allen is an anomaly. He
(17:36):
goes way up top. Then you get Lamar and it's
been late for him. But Lamar in like the mid
to late fifties, and then come pick sixty five. It
just begins. I think I counted eighteen quarterbacks have a
ADP between sixty five and like one to oh five,
So in a forty pickspan, more than one out of
(17:59):
every three picks is a QB for like three or
four rounds in a row. So it just worth if
anybody is kind of doing some preseason work, maybe thinking
about doing basketball stuff, be ready. You have to really
choose between these guys. You really have to pick a pair, right,
You're picking a guy you like in the sixties and seventies,
then maybe one more that you like in that ninety
or one hundred range because the cover really empties out
(18:21):
very fast.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Worth noting. If you do get.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Caught waiting really late, you might want Daniel Jones our
next quarterback EDP one forty five. He also got hurt
in late in the season. That was December first week,
torn right achilles. Those can be really bad. We've also
seen that you know, sap running in power The next season,
he's doing seven on seven drills, which is encouraging, but
(18:45):
I'm not really sure I'm trusting anything I'm seeing from DJ.
Also worth noting the team's success was so directly correlated
to him. I didn't think I'd ever be saying that
about Daniel Jones.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
They were breaking all King differential records, all the EPA records, everything.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
They were a wagon. And then he goes away and Jonathan.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Taylor, who was arcing for like greatest fantasy season ever,
like the smash pick you needed all of a sudden,
was costing people playoff matchups. So what do you think
about Daniel Jones? And then, more specifically, because he's going
late enough that we can make a cost argument, how
do you think it impacts the rest of the Colts.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
That's what I'm really thinking about.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah, I mean, we can't blame the Colts too much
when their reserve option was a guy who'd been coaching
high school football for like the last four seasons. Philip
Rivers comes off off the bench, off the bench, and
I was crazy from the distant pass to come and
try to save the season. So I'm not gonna really
hold it against any of the pass catchers on this
team if they have to go out there without Daniel Jones.
(19:51):
Riley Leonard for all intents and purposes, I still think
is a decent backup option if they decide to ride
with him. We don't know if it will be him
or whatever Gardener Minshew, but I do think Daniel Jones
is gonna be a tough sell. We don't know how
quarterbacks are really affected by ACL stuff that are of
his caliber, because the last few ones it's like Aaron
(20:12):
Rodgers towards ACL. But he was on a new team
and on the verge of ten thousand years old. We
don't know that his exact follow up season is going
to translate to a guy like Daniel Jones. Necessarily. This
is where our lack of doctoring really shows. Probably, But
I do think Daniel Jones, if he's even not mobile,
he's a good enough passer, as he showed last year that,
(20:36):
like we were just talking about Josh Downs, I think
he's still gonna be fine, Tyler Warren, He's still gonna
be fine. So I'm not actually impacting the rest of
the cast because of this injury. It's just a matter
of do I even want to dare try Daniel Jones
with the last pick of my draft, you know, because
you can decide between him and a guy like Geno Smith.
Basically at this point, I'd rather at least take the
(20:56):
upshot of Daniel Jones.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I think that last point is a good one. I'm
also glad you mentioned the downs and warrant thing. They
are two players. I don't want to see that QB proof,
but those style of player can overcome quarterback quality because
a lot of it is getting open near the line
of scrimmage and canting kind of lay up targets, high
probability targets. I think they're both really skilled and have
(21:20):
that ability to do so. If and when Daniel Jones
comes back, I think you're getting an immediate I don't know,
a wide receiver two in downs and definitely a tight
end one. I think you're getting a tight end one
regardless of Warren. I think you're getting a high end
tight end one with Jones back. So worth it with
those guys, I think to you know, still be buying
in even with question marks. As far as Jones himself, again,
(21:42):
it's laid enough if it fits the build. I think
you do it, Jake. Of course we ran on longer
than I wanted to. I don't know if we're going
to make it. Everybody, let me shuffle some papers, let's
take it. Let me take a quick breath. I want
to get into some running backs. And if this takes
too long, because I want to give everything the attention
that deserves, maybe we'll just break this episode into two
and do the pass catchers next time around. With whatever
news and no so ho going. We need to take
a quick broth. I got right back to you, all right, Jakes,
(22:05):
thank you so much for that. I know I didn't
have enough time to do any medical studying, but we
can't talk about some running backs, right. The lack of
medical training is really kind of showing through today.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
So let's do the.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Running backs again. I want to give the attention here
because this stuff matters, right, Chaos is a ladder, and
these opportunities and these players are going to be impactful
one way or another. Right, either they hit the ground
running they're really good. We wanted them, or in a
case like cam Scatabo, let's say this goes wrong. You're
paying a top forty five overall pick and it could
really hurt you, right, so impact kind of goes both ways.
(22:40):
Scatabo was hurt in week eight, so this is quite
a bit earlier than some of the other ones. That
two months can make a big difference. That was verse Philly.
He disslocated his ankle. It was a compound fracture, a
deltoid ligament tear, not that I know what that is now.
He had emergency surgery, which is like both good and bad, right,
we want these procedures immediately. The worst thing I think
(23:00):
is when teams and players try and heal things with
rest only to find out, oh, that didn't work.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Surgery is a good thing.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
He showed up to all voluntary workouts. He has a
chance at week one. They're saying unlikely to be one
hundred percent. We know Scatabo, and this is the guy
you want in fantasy catches the ball, all the end
zone work, and best friends with the quarterback. The two
of them together are like a you know, line share
of all the yard of and all the fantasy points.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
What do you think about Scatabo.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
He's a guy I had been drafting with my best
ball brain because I think we saw Tyrone Tracy get
you know the full workload, so I think those two
guys are fairly priced as a tandem. Talk to me
about the giants, scatabo you think about Big.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Blue, Well, John, I actually did take my MCATs over
the break, so I've come back with much more knowledge
now and I'm ready to break this down. Yes, and
here's what I've discovered with Cam Scataboo. His injury was
gross and gnarly. It was one of the worst injury
that we've seen in the last couple of years. I mean,
(24:04):
I appreciate that they want to get him as involved
as possible. I appreciate that he wants to be as
involved as possible, but the dude still runs like the freakin'
Juggernaut from X Men first, and I can't imagine he's
necessarily putting his health as priority number one. Uh So
I'm still he's doing backflips, and of course he's doing backflips,
(24:26):
and they joked.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
They were like, okay, Harball was like, all right, let's
let's it's good to see the mobility, but let's cut
back on the gymnastics. Sorry to cut you off, but
you mentioned it could I couldn't believe it when I
saw that.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
If he backflips his way into another injury, I unfortunately
wouldn't all be that surprised by it, which is the
thing that scares me about drafting a guy like Cam'scattaboo
is he's going so high, and yes, the expectation can
be he's going to be seventy percent of the backfield
or maybe even he's going to be fifty percent of
the team production at this point if Malik Neighbors has
(24:57):
worse issues, which we'll discuss later, but I I'm still
just the only Giant that I'm really comfortable drafting right
now truly is Isaiah Likely and Tyrone Tracy, as you
mentioned very late, because the possibility of injuries so high.
With Skataboo, he's also one of those pieces obviously, along
with Jackson Dart who has his own injury concerns, and
Milig Neighbors, who has his own injury concerns, they feel
(25:19):
like a team one injury away from looking like the
you know, fricking Miami Dolphins this year. So I'm pretty nervous.
I'm taking Isaiah Likely and I'm just staying away pretty
much from the rest of his crew.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Yeah, I would definitely say not overloading on giants is
a good idea, though, I have to be honest.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Transparency is kind of my thing.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
I have lots of giants spread out, right, so I
have some Scatabo and Tracy tandems. But I'm trying not
to do that with Dart and Likely. I'm with you, Unlikely.
Those are teams that I like to have Jackson Dart
when I have a running quarterback, especially when I could
get a little bit later, I like to pay them
with the tight ends. I was talking about Ulsage and
(26:02):
Malik Willis also. I think that's a cool kind of
late pairing. That's like a team move version of the Giants,
which maybe says something about either of them.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I'm not quite sure, but it's not good whatever it says.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
See, I think Scatibo is a bit of a risk.
I think you should be worried. I think I like
him more in redraft right, if he's healthy. You want
that week one stuff. We're all gonna be dealing with
injuries and figuring out waiver stuff as we go. I
want the guy that could get me off to a
great start. I mean, the type of usage he was
getting is hard to find, especially that part of the
(26:34):
draft board, though there is another player and he's going
around later. He's the next on our injury board here.
It's Quinn Shawn Jenkins for Cleveland, who really impressed me
given the late start and lack of preparation last year.
He got hurt in late December Week sixteen versus Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
It was nasty.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Also dislocated right ankle and a fractured fibula. I couldn't believe.
I was watching videos of him right now. He looks awesome.
They're over the moon for him and his prospects. What's
the problem. One team's live players, lie Jake, but also
it's the ecosystem of the Browns.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
This is ADP fifty.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Five, which, if you think you're getting one hundred percent Judkins,
I think is good. My worry is how good are
they gonna be? And his pass game work has been
threatened by Samson, So given the late time of the
injury with Judkins, and I think, like I mentioned, bad environment,
with the threat of the backup losing some passwork, I
(27:31):
think I'm out on Judkins.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
I think I'm letting other people go that way. What
do you think?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Yeah, if literally everything goes perfectly for him, then I'm
comfortable at his ADP, but I'm still not even necessarily
over the moon at his ADP. So yeah, that to
me just says back off. And I know that. Yeah,
it's it's team lying offseason, it's coach speaks season. They're
gonna say he's confident and explosive and ahead of a schedule,
(27:56):
because what are you supposed to say about your star
running back? And I know that supposedly his injury was
higher up on the ankle, so it was like a
best case scenario for him. I think best case scenario
is that he actually turns into a pass catching running back,
which I don't think is on the table because you
mentioned Dylan Sampson still there. And best case scenario would
(28:17):
be he's in an offense that has a lot of
scoring potential, which I just don't see with this year's
version of the Brown. So if he's one hundred percent
good to go and there's no setbacks, fine, But like you,
I will probably just bypass that position around where he's
being drafted and pivot to something else.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
So Jokins is going right next to Daring Price, who
I'm over the moon for, and I will not be
fielding any you know, one v one questions on him,
because to me, that's already a given. What the answer is,
I do have another injured player. He's not on our
list because he didn't finish the year injured.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Where are you? How about Bucky Irvin.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
This is a decision lots of people have to make,
and the answer could be neither. That's my answer, not
to bury with the lead Bucky Irvin v. Quinchin Pupkins
at the same ADP.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Jake, Yeah, I wonder if we're overreacting a bit too
much to Bucky Irving.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Now.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
I've been worried about Bucky Irving and so I understand
and understood his initial decline in ADP. I just wonder
that we're over correcting now because if he's going this
far down and we know that he is a good
pass catcher, obviously Kenny Gainwell is there, and we've talked
a lot about Kenny Gainwell being somebody to target later
in drafts because he's an improvement I think over a
(29:27):
shod white. But if Bucky does look like he did
a year and a half ago, I think we're gonna
feel a little foolish. So based on upside, I would
much rather have Bucky Irving than Quinn Shod Judkins. I
don't know that I'm gonna trip over myself to click
draft on him, but if he keeps slipping down even
a little bit more, I might have to.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
I was really big at the Bucky the first year.
That was a hit king back for the Encore. That
didn't work out. The injury kind of lingered. I ended
up getting stung, And now this year the points they
make are very good. Hard not to worry about gainwell
and then Talker is back there. But I would agree
a one hundred percent Bucky Irving wins that the job.
(30:10):
I don't know one's getting one hundred percent of carries right.
Those days are over, but yeah, I think he could
still be great with a price that's moving down. Right,
That's when my antenna starts to pop. So it'll be
interesting to see. But I think we're in agreement. Neither
of us are going to end up with a lot
of Judkins at cost too many red flags, or we
got two more running backs. I want to get through
them both. And again we'll give the pass catchers their
due next week because this is really good stuff, where
(30:33):
you know, talking about a lot of process stuff, pulling
the curtain on what we think about these players and
then all the subsequent stuff. Next up is Jonathan Brooks,
who I've been lucky enough to completely avoid because I'm
kind of a curmudgeon when it comes to injuries. The
second I hear guys injured right now, I'm not interested.
Brooks is not injured right now now. He did retear
(30:53):
a right ACL in December, but it was of twenty four, right,
so we haven't seen him. He's had the time. They
are just gushing over him right now. I mean not
only are they gushing over him right now, they've telegraphed
it with the roster move right allowing ric o'dowdell, who
was gosh, Barry Sanders. You know, when Walter Peton rolled
(31:17):
into one for like a three week stretch last year,
they moved on from him with with Truba Hubbard. He's
still there. But the way they're talking about Brooks is
man he could maybe be a one A and again,
pricing is really tough. He's at pick one oh eight.
He's very polarizing player. I feel like people are either
way on it, in on him, or all the way out.
(31:39):
Where do you stand on Jonathan Brooks for the Panthers.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Jonathan with two o's Brooks is that how Jonathan is
always spelled by the way I thought there was it
was a thha N, not thh o N. And I
can't stop looking at it.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
It's like, you know, I didn't notice that till just now,
And I'm like, I was gonna say, I think you
have a typo.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
It's j O N. I thought that's where you were
placing the second. Oh you don't, No, no, no, no, no,
you're right. I've never seen that.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Now I'll never draft him. I can't even understand the
concept of how his name spelled. I can't believe in
him for my fantasy team. No, I do think that
there's obvious risk. He's a running back coming off of
consecutive torn acls, and remember how long it took for
Javonte Williams to get back to his old self after
just one ACL tear. But the better news for Brooks
(32:34):
is that he's so young. He's still only twenty two
years old, so maybe his recovery timeline looks a lot
faster than a guy that's even three years You know
that seat.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Well, he's had ample time at this point.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Now, yeah, he's he's had tons of time, and if
he's not out there sort of beleaguering the injury further,
like he's not being asked to run through the injury
in games, which could probably be a set pack for
a lot of guys. Then the freshness probably does account
for something, John, and I will say, Rico Daldo you
mentioned he outpaced Toba Hubbard last year. Granted part of
(33:10):
that was because of Hubbard's own calf injury that flared up,
but the team showed confidence in Brooks. You don't let
Rico Daudo walk because it's not like he was gonna
have to get a massive payday. You could afford to
keep both chubbered chubbered Hubbard.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
And that's a good one. I actually like that we should.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Just cut through it and call him chubbered from here
on out. I think save space, save you know, vowels.
In any case, I think that Brooks has the vote
of confidence. And at this range, who has this kind
of upside around where he's being drafted. Not a ton
of guys, So I get the appeal.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Yeah, that's the name of the game. In the triple
digit picks, Remember most of these guys are going to
get dropped or hurt before the first month of play's over.
So if you have a chance at player to check
the box is to be the big breakout. I think
Brooks is that I don't know if it's gonna happen.
I don't even know if I'm making a week one,
but that is the type of play that could hit,
(34:09):
so I depending on my build.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
That's where I've been. Let's do this last player really quick.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
It's Zach Charbonnay on the Seahawks ADP one sixty five.
I believe he's gonna start moving up now. He tore
on ACL in January in the wild card game. That's
part of why I've been so high on Price. I
normally give twelve months for recovery. Is kind of what
we were mentioning why I'm into the early injuries. I
(34:35):
want the twelve month recovery time to land in the
off season so there's no pressure to return to early.
I always feel like everybody, the player, the staff, the coaches,
everybody has a vested interest in getting these guys on
the field. They don't know better, you know. They they
want to win, they want to play, and I worry.
So when I see the timeline, that's what I'm into.
(34:56):
This is the opposite. This feels totally rushed. I don't
know how we could get this guy back. He had
surgery in late February. Nine month recovery usually minimum that's October,
November or and now they're like they're trying to talk about
having him available early. There was a mention of week
one today. Yeah, right, not gonna happen. So I'm hoping
that people run with that week one narrative and it
(35:19):
hopefully will knock price down around where I'll be there
to scoop him up on one hundred percent of teams.
It's not that I don't like sharbon Ay. I just
think this is putting the cart before the horse way.
Too many things can go wrong, and you risk the
reaggravation if you rush back too fast. So I'm out
on Sharves even at pick one sixty five.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
I'd rather have Halani one v one right now. Where
are you on, Charboney? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (35:43):
I mean I mentioned Devonte Williams and his like two
year process to looking as good or close to as
good as he did initially. CHARBERTA doesn't have even like
you said a full year to get back to his
old self, and let me remind you his old self
was not anything fantas astic for your fantasy teams. A
healthy Charbone never finished higher than RB twenty nine in
(36:05):
PPR points per game. Yeah, they let Kenneth Walker go
in free agency, but they spent the first round pick
on Jendarian Price. So unless Price just completely winds up
an unexpected bust, they're not gonna give Charbonet the workload
that you want to be this invested in a guy.
So yeah, give me Price, give me Halani, give me
(36:26):
Emmanuel Wilson if you want to just take a contrarian
shot later on in your drafts. But there's no chance
that I'm doing anything with Charbonet.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Well, an Emmanuel Wilson mentioned means it's time to get
out of here, mister Jake.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
You know what. I'm glad that we took the time. Though.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
We will sever the back end of the outline and
we'll go back to it next week with pass catches
and whatever news and olds come up. Thanks so much
everybody for hanging along with us. Enjoy your weekend. Thanks
for listening to Fantasy Football Weekly and we'll see you soon.
I know no, you know no.
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